


And They Say Chivalry Is Dead

by telperion_15



Series: Nick/Connor [3]
Category: Primeval
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon, First Time, Loss of Virginity, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-14
Updated: 2012-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-31 04:44:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/340014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telperion_15/pseuds/telperion_15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How long does a man grieve for?</p>
            </blockquote>





	And They Say Chivalry Is Dead

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for episode 2.07.

How long does a man grieve for?

It was a stupid, heartless, selfish question, and Connor hated himself for even thinking it. But the truth was, he felt like he was in some kind of limbo. He had a boyfriend (and didn’t that sound weird?), but at the same time he kind of felt like he didn’t.

Over the past month Nick had buried himself in paperwork and research. Not deliberately – he hadn’t been avoiding Connor or anything. But the anomalies seemed to be going through a quiet phase. There hadn’t been more than one a week, and none of them had produced anything even remotely dangerous. Which was lucky in more ways than one, Connor supposed. None of them was really in any fit state, given recent events, to be battling predators from the past or monsters from the future. And it had allowed everyone at the ARC time to get on with neglected projects and backlogs of work. Nick had used the opportunity to go through some of the mountain of data they had collected from the anomalies over the months – that was, when he wasn’t finishing up the pile of reports Lester had demanded. Abby was assisting some of the other ARC researchers in analysing the numerous biological samples that had been brought back from the various eras. And Connor had been perfecting the anomaly detector – ironing out the final glitches and trying to make it run more efficiently.

But they hadn’t been working all the time. He and Nick had been hanging out a lot as well during those weeks – just being together and getting to know each other. There was no question that Nick was still mourning Stephen – they all were – but over the weeks their time together had become less about that grief, and more about _them_. Talking, finding out stuff about each other – stuff they’d never bothered to touch on when they’d only worked together, and when Connor had thought that Nick just saw him as an unfortunate but necessary annoyance.

But did that mean that Nick was moving on? That he could now focus on their relationship instead of on what he had lost?

Connor didn’t know, and he couldn’t bring himself to ask. What kind of bastard would that make him look like? One that was more concerned with his libido than with Nick’s feelings, that’s what.

It didn’t help that Abby seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. Every so often she would throw him a sympathetic smile, and mouth “just give him time,” something that made Connor simultaneously embarrassed and irritated. Did she think he was going to just go and jump Nick when he wasn’t ready for anything more? He had more self-control than that!

Not that he would jump Nick even if the man _was_ ready. Connor wasn’t really the jumping kind – in fact, in the part of his mind that _wasn’t_ insisting on reminding him how horny he was, he was quietly freaking out slightly about what might actually happen when they finally did get to that stage.

Connor glared fiercely at the anomaly detector, even though it wasn’t really the machine’s fault. He’d been making some adjustments to the programming and it hadn’t been going well, which hadn’t improved his mood one little bit.

He knew that if he turned around and looked up, he’d be able to see Nick in Lester’s office, the professor having just finished and delivered the final report in the civil servant’s long list. Connor hoped he’d be able to persuade Nick to go home now – the man had been pushing himself over the last two days to finish that report, desperate to get Lester off his back, if only for a little while.

But Connor himself was now going to be delayed. He couldn’t leave the detector halfway through the programming upgrade – without finishing it the device wouldn’t work, and therefore wouldn’t alert them to any new anomalies.

“Drink?”

Connor jumped, knocking his knee painfully against the detector console and swearing under his breath. “Don’t creep up on me like that! You might have made me ruin an entire day’s work!”

Nick looked mildly surprised by the outburst, but also understanding, and Connor suddenly felt bad for snapping.

“Sorry,” he sighed. “It’s just not going very well, that’s all. And I have to finish this tonight.”

“I’ll wait.”

“No, go home. You look tired. Take the opportunity to get away from Lester for a bit.”

“I’ll wait,” said Nick firmly, settling himself in a chair.

Connor smiled tiredly. “Okay, thank you. I’ll be as quick as I can.”

It took another ninety minutes, and two cups of coffee supplied by Nick, before Connor was satisfied that the anomaly detector was up and running again, with it’s fully functional new programming.

“Done!” he declared, tapping the final key with a flourish. “It should be able to pin down the anomalies twice as fast now.”

“Well, just so long as it doesn’t pin one down twice as fast for the next twelve hours,” Nick said. “I’d rather not have to spend tonight in a damp field somewhere.”

Something in Nick’s voice caught Connor’s attention, but with his head still full of computer code and numbers, he couldn’t really process it properly, and quickly dismissed it.

“So, what about that drink, then? My place?”

“Sounds good to me,” Connor replied. “Let’s go.”

*   *   *   *   *

The first shot of whisky spread a comforting warmth throughout his body, and Connor sighed with pleasure and relaxed back into the sofa cushions, allowing his eyes to flutter closed as he savoured the sensation. “Mmmmmm…” He licked his lips to catch the taste of the Scottish malt again, and heard a sharp intake of breath from Nick.

“God, Connor…”

He cracked an eye open to see Nick staring at him. “What?”

Slowly and deliberately, Nick set his glass down on the mantelpiece and walked over to sit down beside Connor, twisting his body so he could look directly into Connor’s face. He didn’t say anything, and Connor started to feel a little unnerved, being the subject of such an intense gaze.

“What?” he repeated, licking his lips again, this time out of nervousness.

But Nick still didn’t say anything. Instead, with the same deliberateness, he lowered his mouth to Connor’s and kissed him, slithering his body round after a few seconds so that he was half sprawled across the sofa and half sprawled across Connor.

The warmth and weight of Nick’s body on his as Nick kissed him felt great, and right at that moment Connor could happily have stayed like that forever. One of Nick’s hands had slid up the side of his throat, the fingertips just stroking the back of his neck where hair met skin, making Connor shiver slightly.

But they couldn’t stay like that, and Connor felt like he was sliding into dangerous territory. So when Nick finally lifted away slightly, Connor tried not to give away how much he just wanted to yank him back down, and instead smiled brightly.

“So, how about another drink, then?”

“What?” Nick looked confused. “Connor, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Really. What about that drink?” He tried to slide out from under Nick, but Nick shifted his weight a little, pinning Connor to the sofa even more effectively.

“Connor, I don’t want another drink,” he said clearly. “I want _you_.”

“Oh.” Connor knew he was giving Nick the rabbit-caught-in-headlights look, but he couldn’t seem to help it.

Nick chuckled quietly. “Did you think I hadn’t noticed?” he asked. “You being all chivalrous? It was very sweet, Connor, but totally unnecessary.”

Connor gathered his thoughts. “Can you honestly say you would have wanted this before now?” he said gently.

Nick considered. “Probably not,” he admitted eventually. “Although I wouldn’t have minded if you’d wanted to.”

“God, Nick, what kind of person do you think I am?” Connor demanded.

“One who’s spent far too long thinking about my feelings at the expense of his own,” replied Nick seriously. “Something that’s going to change right now.”

“Are you sure?”

“And they say chivalry is dead!” laughed Nick. “Yes, Connor, I’m sure. Now, is there any chance you can stop thinking about my feelings long enough to let me stop you thinking about my feelings?”

Connor was still trying to work out the mechanics of that sentence when Nick kissed him again. It was more heated this time, more intense, more…everything, really, and Connor couldn’t help the small moan that escaped him. This was good. This was very, very good.

All the same, as Nick ran a hand down his body, he tensed slightly.

Nick immediately broke away. “Connor? What is it?”

“It’s nothing.”

Nick’s eyes narrowed. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a very bad liar?”

“It’s nothing,” Connor insisted.

“No, it’s not.” Nick looked at him searchingly. “You have done this before, right?”

“Well…”

“Connor…”

“Look, I don’t exactly have a lot of experience with women, never mind men!” The instant the words left his mouth he wished he could call them back. The dismay on Nick’s face was like a trickle of ice water down his neck, and he sat up hurriedly as Nick shifted backwards.

“Jesus, Connor, why didn’t you say anything? God, now I feel like a lecherous old man – a university professor deflowering one of his ex-students isn’t exactly the image I’d like to cultivate.”

“’Ex’ being the operative word in that sentence,” said Connor firmly. “You’re not my professor any more, remember?”

“Then why do you persist in calling me by the title?”

“I don’t. Not any more.”

“Connor, you called me it this morning.”

“When?”

“I walked past you, said hello, and you said ‘hello, professor’.”

“That’s not fair. I was thinking about the anomaly detector – my mind was elsewhere! I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Well, what about yesterday? I asked you if you could fetch me the video footage of the last anomaly, and you said ‘sure thing, professor’. And don’t tell me you were thinking about the detector then as well, because I’d just watched you showing off your skateboard tricks to Abby in the atrium.”

Connor opened his mouth to argue some more, but then closed it and shrugged sheepishly instead. “Force of habit, I guess. I am getting better, but I’ll make more of an effort to stop. Anyway, _Nick_ , aren’t we getting off the point a little here? You’re not ‘deflowering’ me. Well, I suppose you are, in the technical sense of the word, but do you see me protesting? And isn’t it a little late to be worrying about that now, in any case?”

“I suppose you’re right. But you can’t deny that you’re nervous. I can see it in your eyes, Connor. And I don’t want to do anything to hurt you.”

“Well, yes, okay, I _am_ nervous. But it’s good nervous, not bad nervous. Although if we’re just going to sit here discussing it all night, then soon it’s not going to be _anything_ nervous.”

Connor moved quickly, before he had a chance to chicken out, and swung a knee over Nick’s legs until he was straddling Nick’s thighs. Looking down into Nick’s startled blue gaze, he smiled slightly. “Now, where were we?”

Nick’s hand instantly, but still a little hesitantly, curled around the back of Connor’s neck, pulling him down, although he stopped just short of actually kissing him, their breaths mingling as he asked a question with his eyes.

Connor answered him by closing the final inch of distance, kissing Nick with a fervour he hadn’t known he possessed. He felt Nick’s other hand slide around his waist, fingers tangling in the hem of his waistcoat, before finding their way under it to grasp the fabric of his t-shirt. Nick made an annoyed sound in his throat, and Connor pulled away – the need for air had become pressing in any case.

“Christ, Connor, do you really need to wear so many layers?” Nick grumbled.

“Geek chic – all the rage,” replied Connor, a little breathlessly. “Just think of it as a challenge.”

“Well, I do like a challenge,” Nick mused, his lips against Connor’s throat.

Connor sighed as Nick’s tongue darted out to lap at the hollow beneath his chin, and then shivered as Nick’s hand finally found its way under his clothing, fingertips ghosting across skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. His own hands dropped to Nick’s waist, fumbling at Nick’s shirt, trying to drag it from his jeans.

“Connor, wait…”

Connor ignored him.

“Connor…” Both of Nick’s hands suddenly moved to grasp Connor’s wrists, stilling his frantic movements. “I think there are more comfortable places we could be doing this.”

“This seems pretty comfortable to me…” Then he noticed Nick’s eyes looking towards the ceiling. “Oh.”

Nick sat forward suddenly, and Connor gasped as his hitherto successfully ignored erection came into contact with the answering bulge in Nick’s jeans. Nick’s eyes widened slightly, but that was it, and his voice was remarkably steady as he spoke.

“That means you need to move, Connor.”

And suddenly Connor was scrambling backwards to his feet, wobbling slightly when the back of his legs impacted against the coffee table behind him. Only Nick grabbing him stopped him falling flat on his arse, and as the other man yanked him forwards at the same time as standing up, Connor suddenly found himself plastered against Nick again, and his erection was becoming even more difficult to ignore.

Nick grinned wickedly and propelled him gently towards the door and up the stairs, halting them at the top to kiss Connor again, lazily rolling his hips so his pelvis ground against Connor’s.

Connor’s head dropped back with an audible thud against the wall. “God, professor…” Then he froze as he realised what he’d just said. “Crap, sorry. Really not the best time.”

But Nick was looking at him with amusement and arousal flaring in his blue eyes. “You know,” he said slowly (and never stopping that maddening movement of his hips), “suddenly it doesn’t bother me quite so much. Maybe you shouldn’t be in such a hurry to forget it, after all.”

And damn it, if that didn’t turn him on even more. He must have been doing the rabbit expression again, because Nick chuckled and stepped away, tugging him in the direction of the bedroom.

As they crossed the threshold, Connor couldn’t help but stare around him curiously. He hadn’t been in here before, and he was intrigued to see what Nick Cutter’s sleeping space comprised. But, like the rest of the house, the bedroom perfectly complemented the man who used it. The requisite fossils and books and other knick-knacks were here as well, although in this space they were ‘arranged’ rather than ‘cluttered’. A battered armchair had a few articles of mud-splattered clothing tossed over it. And a stack of files on the bedside table indicated, unsurprisingly, that Nick found it difficult to switch off at _any_ time of the day or night.

“Connor? Something the matter?”

Connor blinked and focussed his attention on Nick, who was standing by the bed. “No, nothing. Just fitting together another piece of the Nick Cutter puzzle, that’s all.”

“Well, in that case, why don’t you come over here? You can finish your puzzle later.”

“Oh, I don’t think it’ll ever be finished,” responded Connor, as he crossed the room into Nick’s waiting arms. “But you’re not the only one who likes a challenge.”

“Speaking of challenges…”

Nick’s fingers were fumbling at the buttons of Connor’s waistcoat, and he made a small sound of triumph every time one of them yielded to his manipulations. Eventually they were all undone, and Connor shrugged off the garment quickly, letting it drop to the floor. Nick immediately yanked up his t-shirt, dragging it over Connor’s head and tossing it away.

Connor shivered slightly, despite the centrally heated air. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of his body exactly, but he strongly suspected that he had the typical geek physique – thin and pale. Even if he had gained some muscle tone after the past year of running after and away from prehistoric beasties.

And his complex wasn’t being soothed any by the slightly critical look Nick was currently giving him.

“What?”

“Still too many clothes, I think,” Nick said slowly. “Yep, definitely too many.”

Connor felt relief flood through him. “Well, what about you?” he protested. “Compared to me, you’re dressed for an expedition to an ice age!”

“You’re right.” Nick’s shirt quickly followed in the general direction of Connor’s t-shirt. As did his jeans, socks, and boxers.

Connor swallowed.  _Christ, what am I doing?_  His eyes were drawn inexorably to Nick’s erect cock, and he gulped again. Although he was getting a couple of ideas…

“Connor?” Nick stepped into his personal space and kissed him gently. “Still too many clothes?” It was a question that was giving him a get-out, if he wanted it.

But he didn’t want it, and he answered by hurriedly stripping off his own trousers and underwear, his cock springing free to graze against Nick’s, both of them gasping at the fleeting sensation.

Nick reached out and ran a hand across Connor’s chest, brushing his thumb across each nipple in passing, making Connor’s breath hitch, and then become more erratic still as the hand dropped lower.

But it stopped just short of its goal, and Nick’s voice was husky with arousal as he murmured in Connor’s ear.

“Lie down on the bed.”

A persuasive nudge accompanied the words, and Connor sat down on the edge of the bed with a graceless bounce before shuffling around until his head was on the pillows.

Nick laid down beside him, on his side, his hand trailing across the skin of Connor’s torso again – a touch that Connor fought not to arch up into.

“God, Connor…”

Something in his voice made Connor look at him sharply, and the young man suddenly realised that he wasn’t the only one feeling some uncertainty about this whole situation. But what did Nick have to be worried about?

“What is it?”

“I can’t quite shake that lecherous old man feeling,” Nick confessed. “I’m not entirely sure what I did to deserve someone like you in my bed.”

“Are you kidding me? I’m nothing special. And we’ll have less of the ‘old’, please. You’re not old, you’re mature.” Connor grinned impishly as he said this, and Nick swatted him on the arm.

“Thanks very much!”

“Seriously, though, have you seen you? Why wouldn’t I be in your bed? You are one very sexy professor.  _My_ very sexy professor.” His voice dropped on the last word, and he had just time to catch the flash of arousal in Nick’s eyes before Nick was kissing him fiercely enough to take his breath away.

Connor’s hands slithered down Nick’s back, desperate to touch, trying to pull Nick closer. But he was thwarted as Nick suddenly slid away, his lips dragging down the curve of Connor’s throat and onwards, seemingly everywhere at once until Connor gave up trying to follow their path, his gasps interspersed with mindless begging – for what he wasn’t quite sure.

“God… _please_ …”

Nick’s chuckle came from somewhere in the vicinity of his navel. “Well, since you ask so nicely…”

But for a few seconds nothing happened, and Connor raised his head in confusion to look at Nick, who looked back at him very deliberately just as he slid his lips over the head of Connor’s cock.

It was like fireworks were going off in his brain. Connor couldn’t stop the moan that exploded from his lips. Nick’s mouth was doing things to him that he’d never even imagined, not in his wildest fantasies. He felt like he was coming apart at the seams and he was powerless to stop it. He didn’t want to stop it. Ever. But his control was slipping, shredding under dizzying onslaught.

“Professor…”

It was a mindless warning, all he could manage under the circumstances. But Nick’s head jerked, and suddenly he was swallowing Connor down to the root and Connor was utterly unable to stop his hips thrusting upwards as he came, babbling incoherently until Nick finally released him from the exquisite torture and his shudders gradually died away.

He felt rather than saw Nick shift back up the bed, and as gentle fingers swept some of his hair from his face his eyes fluttered open and he gave Nick a rather glazed look.

“Wow…” Connor’s throat was dry and his voice rasped over the word.

Nick smiled. “It’s been a while – I’m a bit rusty.” His voice was hoarse too – perhaps unsurprisingly, considering…

“ _That_ was rusty? Christ.” Connor pulled Nick down for a kiss, sighing a little as he tasted himself on the other man’s lips.

Nick squirmed slightly against him as his hands once more started an exploration of Nick’s body, and Connor was suddenly acutely aware of the hardness pressed along his hipbone. He hesitated for a second, and then slid a hand down to curl around Nick’s cock. Nick made a strangled sound in his throat and rolled away slightly, giving them both more space as he thrust into Connor’s clumsy yet eager grip.

“My sexy professor…” Connor murmured wickedly, as the encouraging sounds Nick was making increased his confidence.

“Nowhere else!” Nick gasped suddenly. “Only here…from now on…”

“Yes, professor,” Connor said obediently, and Nick’s thrusts abruptly became jerkier as he moaned softly.

But when Connor’s hand suddenly drifted away he opened his eyes, his almost outraged expression making Connor snort with laughter.

“Christ, Connor, don’t stop!”

The desperate lust in Nick’s voice almost made him give in to the exhortation, but he stopped himself just in time.

“This isn’t enough.”

“What?”

“It isn’t enough. I want…”

Nick seemed to catch on without being told. His eyes darkened even as his expression softened. “What do you want, Connor?”

“I want…I want you inside me.” Connor’s face flushed as he made the crude, needy demand.

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t you want to?”

“God, Connor, more than anything. But not if that’s the only reason you’re offering.”

“It’s not,” said Connor emphatically. “Please, Nick. I want this. I want _you_.”

He practically saw Nick’s restraint snap, although the gentleness didn’t completely vanish from his face. But he could see that Nick had finally given up on trying to hold himself back, and Connor felt a shiver of arousal go through him at the sight. His spent cock twitched expectantly, and then again as Nick shifted away slightly, his eyes sweeping over Connor appraisingly.

“Get on your hands and knees.”

With an effort Connor moved his still lethargic limbs until he was in the correct position, and then listened to Nick moving around somewhere over his left shoulder. There was the sound of a drawer opening and closing, some rustling, and then a slight vibration as something was dropped on the bed. The anticipation seemed to stretch the moments out into eternity, and Connor could feel the nerves beginning to gather again at the edges of his consciousness like a flock of angry pterosaurs.

“I feel ridiculous,” he muttered defensively.

“You look delicious,” Nick responded, running a soothing yet trembling hand down Connor’s back, following it with a trail of light kisses.

Connor relaxed under the touch, and Nick made an approving noise.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.”

“Never thought you would,” said Connor, the last word drowning in a gasp as Nick’s hand brushed across his arse, fingers trailing between his cheeks.

There was another pause, this time making Connor’s breath quicken with arousal as he fought the desire to start begging for something… _anything_.

And then Nick’s hand was running gently over his back again, and the word “relax” reached his ears just as Nick slid a cool and slippery finger into him. He couldn’t help clenching slightly around the intrusion, and Nick immediately halted.

“Connor?”

“Just…a minute…” he gasped. He forced himself to relax as Nick made comforting noises, his free hand never stopping its light stroking across his skin.

Then the finger was moving again, thrusting gently, and Connor found that he was quickly getting used to the strange sensation. In fact, it actually felt quite good. More than quite good, actually. It felt…

“Jesus Christ!”

Ripples of pure pleasure spread out over his skin as the finger suddenly brushed over something new. He heard Nick chuckle behind him as he repeated the action, and Connor swore again loudly as the feeling increased, making his arms shake and his cock swell.

“If you’re trying to kill me…” he panted, torn between demanding more, and knowing that he wouldn’t last long if Nick kept this up.

Nick laughed again, somewhat breathlessly, but otherwise didn’t respond to the uncertain plea. “Two now,” he warned, and Connor felt extra thickness pushing into him, and he fought to press back against it even as his body demanded _more_.

A minute or two later it was “three”, and Nick was finger-fucking him in earnest now, and Connor was desperately hard, and still desperately wanted more.

“Please…” The broken plea dropped from his lips just as the fingers were dragged from him, making him hiss at the loss.

“Are you ready?” Nick’s voice was gentle, but there was an undercurrent of need to it that made Connor tremble.

“Yes… _please_ …”

And then he was being filled up and split apart, and it felt better than anything he had ever felt in his whole life. It was beyond good, beyond need, beyond everything.

“Connor…” Nick’s voice cracked on the word as Connor suddenly shoved back against the too-slow push of Nick’s cock, the movement drawing a long and ragged moan from Nick’s throat, a sound that was possibly the most erotic thing Connor had ever heard. And he had done that.  _He_ had done it.

The thought was almost enough to undo him all by itself.

He could sense Nick gathering together the final shreds of his control, and then his cock was sliding away almost entirely before pushing back in, and Connor thought that nothing else in the world could possibly feel this fucking good.

But then his body shuddered as Nick’s cock dragged over that spot inside him again, and it was only by the narrowest of margins that he prevented his arms from collapsing from under him as the pleasure coursed through his body and out of his mouth in the form of a moan that didn’t even _begin_ to convey how that sensation really felt.

And then Nick did it again, just as his hand closed around Connor’s own cock, and Connor felt his brain shut down. It was a defence mechanism, really. It was either stop thinking, or allow his brain to simply frazzle into nothingness. Words, sounds, everything failed him until there was nothing but the feel of Nick’s cock and Nick’s hand and just…Nick.

There was no warning this time, and his orgasm signalled the final death knell for conscious thought as he pulsed over Nick’s hand and clenched around Nick’s cock, dimly hearing his name gasped aloud as the sensation of Nick driving his own orgasm into Connor’s body mingled with everything else until there was nothing left but sheer, mindless pleasure.

He only realised that he had by some miracle managed to remain in a semi-upright position at the precise moment that his arms finally gave out, and he pitched forwards, his whole body slumping downwards to the mattress, drawing a panting groan from Nick as his cock slipped free. Connor couldn’t even bring himself to care that he had ended up lying on a distinctly damp patch. The phrase _perfectly fucked_ sprang to mind as Nick executed a rather more controlled descent, lying on his side next to Connor and settling a hand in the small of Connor’s back.

“Connor?”

Nick’s eyes widened in a faintly alarmed manner when Connor didn’t immediately respond, but then softened when Connor eventually forced a mumbled “s’ good” past his lips. He smiled and leaned forward to press a chaste kiss to the corner of Connor’s mouth.

“Wow…”

“Thought that was my line?” Connor muttered, as his brain finally started to come back online. Although the abstract patterns Nick’s fingers appeared to be tracing across his back were doing nothing to help that process. Connor could feel the movements sending minute tingling aftershocks skittering across his skin, almost too much for his over-sensitised body to handle.

“Well, it seems to sum things up rather well,” replied Nick, who seemed to be annoyingly coherent, given the circumstances. Wait, scratch that. Being annoyed required energy – something Connor was significantly lacking in right at this moment. He settled for providing a belated echo.

“Wow,” he agreed.

“How do you feel?”

“Pretty much like I never want to move again,” admitted Connor. “But in a good way. So, was that rusty as well? Because in that case I don’t think I could survive a Nick Cutter at the top of his game.”

“Well, you know, once I got started it all came flooding back. Seems to be one of those things you never really forget how to do. Like riding a bike.”

“But infinitely more fun,” said Connor cheekily. Then he grimaced. “You know what I said about never moving again? Well, I might have to revise that. I…uh…seem to have made a bit of a mess of your bedding, and it’s not exactly making this the most comfortable place to be right now.”

But Nick just grinned at him. “Well, if you think you can find the energy to drag yourself into the shower, I’ll take care of the bedding.”

Connor nodded, and then pushed himself shakily off the bed, pulling another face at the mess and then hurriedly stumbling to the bathroom so he had something to lean against before he fell down.

The shower had turned into more of an exercise in leaning against the wall with his head pillowed on his arms, letting the water pour over him, by the time he heard the shower door open. Then a pair of hands settled on his hips, and a pair of lips kissed his shoulder gently.

“Feeling okay?”

“Fine. Better than fine. Just about bloody perfect, actually. We should do this again sometime.”

“Maybe we should.” There was laughter dancing in Nick’s words, and Connor suddenly realised just how long it had been since he had heard Nick sound genuinely happy. He smiled himself and started to turn around, but the hands on his hips stopped him.

“Don’t move. Stay still for a minute and I’ll wash your back for you.”

*   *   *   *   *

The next day, Nick was lingering by the anomaly detector, watching Connor in a manner _not_ designed to help his concentration any, when Lester stuck his head out of his office and beckoned to them imperiously.

“You two – up here, now. I want an explanation for the sudden increase in technical expenditure over the last month.”

He disappeared without waiting for a response.

Nick grinned ruefully. “Guess we’d better go and soothe the savage beast.” He started off towards the ramp. “Oh, and maybe you’d better bring the new handheld detector prototype. Then we can at least prove we’ve been spending the money on _something_.”

“Yes, professor.”

Nick's feet stumbled over the bottom of the ramp, and Connor smiled.


End file.
